Series Recap: Dodgers Take 2 of 3 From D’Backs, Magic Number At 6

The Dodgers took two of three games from the Arizona Diamondbacks, putting their magic number to clinch the NL West at six. The Dodgers’ offense erupted for six home runs, including three from Juan Uribe, Monday night to open the series.

Scott Van Slyke hit a dramatic 11th inning walk-off home run Tuesday night to give the Dodgers’ a 5-3 win. While on Wednesday, Hyun-Jin Ryu was rusty making his first start in 11 days and D’Backs starter Patrick Corbin shut down the Dodgers in the series finale.

It was nice to see the team respond in a positive way after getting swept in Cincinnati last weekend, losing each game by one run. It seems in baseball, a lot of times, the team that wins the World Series is not necessarily the best team, but the team that’s playing the best going into the postseason. Fresh in everyone’s mind is the 2011 Cardinals team that won the World Series as a wild card as a wild card team appeared in the World Series every year from 2002-2007.

Back to the series. It was a gleeful night at Dodger Stadium on Monday as the Dodgers smashed six home runs and Uribe became the first Dodger to hit three home runs in a game since Andre Ethier did so back in 2009. Throw in another great start by Ricky Nolasco (6 2/3 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 6 K, 1 BB) and the Dodgers cruised to an 8-1 victory.